History Main / UnwittingInstigatorofDoom

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/TheFarSide https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_02.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Poor Roy just wanted to be nice.]]

* In the summer of 2008 on ''Wrestling/{{WWERAW}}'', Wrestling/CMPunk took advantage of a beating Wrestling/{{Edge}} received at the hands of a recently-drafted Wrestling/{{Batista}} to cash in his Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank contract, winning his first world title and ensuring ''RAW'' had a world title again. While that was great for Punk and everyone else on ''RAW'', it was terrible for Edge and his associates, because Edge went into a complete VillainousBreakdown and started terrorizing his own show, ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown'', in retaliation. He did manage to collect himself briefly to finally get married to Wrestling/VickieGuerrero, but then Wrestling/TripleH exposed Edge's affair with their wedding planner Wrestling/AliciaFox during the wedding reception, causing Vickie to go into a VillainousBreakdown herself. She retaliated against Edge by reinstating Wrestling/TheUndertaker and forcing her new husband into a Hell in a Cell match at that year's ''Wrestling/SummerSlam''. After that and a poignant talk with Wrestling/MickFoley (which saw Foley go through a table at Edge's hands), Edge effectively snapped and rampaged across ''[=SmackDown=]'' as an unhinged lunatic until he lost the match against 'Taker and was sent to hell for three months. In short, within five or so minutes, Punk managed to completely utterly wreck ''[=SmackDown=]'' for several months just by taking advantage of Edge's one vulnerable moment on ''RAW''.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_02.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Poor Roy just wanted to be nice.]]

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'': In "Mario Saves Anime", [[spoiler:Fishy Boopkins explains to Francis that Axol's inkweaver uses inkling ink to bring anime drawings to life. This would soon result in Francis kidnapping most of the population of Inkopolis, including Meggy so that he could have his own island of waifus. This also results in the death of Desti after False Sephiroth impales her.]]
[[/folder]]

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

* ''Series/CobraKai'' would have an easier time listing aversions. The second season, which ended up with the campus equivalent of a MobWar (and one student on each side hospitalized), took this one UpToEleven.

* In the summer of 2008 on ''Wrestling/{{WWERAW}}'', Wrestling/CMPunk took advantage of a beating Wrestling/{{Edge}} received at the hands of a recently-arrived Wrestling/{{Batista}} to cash in his Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank contract, winning his first world title and ensuring ''RAW'' had a world title again. While that was great for Punk and everyone else on ''RAW'', it was terrible for Edge and his associates, because Edge went into a complete VillainousBreakdown and started terrorizing his own show, ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown'', in retaliation. He did manage to collect himself briefly to finally get married to Wrestling/VickieGuerrero, but then Wrestling/TripleH exposed Edge's affair with their wedding planner Wrestling/AliciaFox during the wedding reception, causing Vickie to go into a VillainousBreakdown herself. She retaliated against Edge by reinstating Wrestling/TheUndertaker and forcing her new husband into a Hell in a Cell match at that year's ''Wrestling/SummerSlam''. After that and a poignant talk with Wrestling/MickFoley (which saw Foley go through a table at Edge's hands), Edge effectively snapped and rampaged across ''[=SmackDown=]'' as an unhinged lunatic until he lost the match against 'Taker and was sent to hell for three months. In short, within five or so minutes, Punk managed to completely utterly wreck ''[=SmackDown=]'' for several months just by taking advantage of Edge's one vulnerable moment on ''RAW''.

* Mrs O’Leary’s cow, who kicked over a lantern which ignited straw in her stall which ignited the wall which led to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. There is no evidence to support this origin for the fire.

* In the backstory to ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', the [[GoldenAge ancient Dwarf Empire]] was destroyed by a series of earthquakes that tore through the World's Edge Mountains. The dwarfs refer to it as the Time of Woe, as the dwarfholds were isolated and uncounted dwarfs died in cave-ins, fissures opening beneath their feet or entire sections of holds falling apart. The cause? On the other side of the Great Sea, a [[TheArchmage Slann Mage-Priest]] called Quex had realized the planet's continents had become ''slightly'' misaligned compared to the design documents left behind by the {{Precursors}}, and decided the time was right to re-align them.
** An inversion would be the Greenskin incursion at Grimspike Pass. The Dwarf High King Kurgan Ironbeard marched his throngs out to meet the orcs. The newly appointed High Chief of Men, Sigmar Unberogen, gathered his warriors and moved to reinforce Kurgan's position, rather pragmatically counting on that their combined forces would have a better chance or repelling the orcs. Kurgan, in a similar bout of pragmatism, equipped Sigmar's warriors with steel weapons to replace the bronze or iron ones they brought, and gave Sigmar the rune-hammer Ghal-Maraz. From this simple act of {{Realpolitik}} grew an alliance which has lasted for over two millennia, and brought prosperity to both Men and Dwarfs.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has its fair share of people whose good intentions led to complete chaos.
** One of the biggest examples of this is Inquisitor Fidus Kryptman. A radical even by Inquisition standards, Kryptman spearheaded a unique plan to deal with the Ork problem. Steal some Genestealers, implant them in some Orks and let the two forces wipe each other out. The problem? Neither seems able. The war in the Octarius sector rages on even in the current time of 40K, with the never-ending conflict making each side stronger. Whoever wins will either produce a Hive Fleet with an Ork WAAAGH worth of biomass, or an Ork force of immense size juiced up from all the fighting. Whoever does win, it's clear Kryptman's plan backfired ''big time''.

** It's revealed in season 10 that [[spoiler: Carolina]] is the unintentional cause for multiple problems the cast faces in the Recollection trilogy, thanks to several ill-considered decisions regarding AI. [[spoiler: Sigma was her original AI partner, but she felt guilty for Maine being rendered mute and gave Sigma to him to compensate. She then proceeded to demand the next ''two'' AI Fragments, Eta and Iota, to compensate (and because she was jealous of Tex for getting Omega, the strongest one). Eta and Iota were to be Wash and South Dakota's AI; when they were given to Carolina, Wash ended up getting Epsilon instead, leading to his mental breakdown, and South's envy of Wash and her brother (who had Theta) boiled over and ended with her leaving both of them for dead later (which would in turn lead to Wash killing her). Meanwhile, Sigma quickly gained complete control over Maine and used him to further his goals of metastability as the Meta.]]
*** Carolina's rivalry with Tex also caused the events of Season 15-[[spoiler: When she and Tex fought each other in a simulation, one of the Simulation Troopers with them was killed. His death (along with Carolina and Tex's uncaring reaction) inspired his best friend to rally both the Blue and Red teams to fight against both Project Freelancer ''and'' the [=UNSC=] for treating them so disposably.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Flashbacks depict [[TheHeavy Cinder]] living in an [[CinderellaPlot abusive environment]] where she works as a slave for the hotelier who is her [[WickedStepmother legal guardian]]. When she steals a customer's sword to kill her abusive family, he decides to give her a legal escape by training her to become a [[HunterOfMonsters Huntress]]. [[spoiler:When [[MoralityChain Rhodes]] gifts Cinder with a twin of the weapon she once stole, her [[BigSisterBully step-sisters]] finding it triggers a confrontation that snaps Cinder. Thanks to years of training and torture, she kills both her family and Rhodes, beginning her journey of killing others to steal power for herself; this leads her right into [[BigBad Salem]]'s arms, earning her a major role in the SecretWar with [[BigGood Professor Ozpin]] for the fate of humanity. To this day, she handles Salem's abusive manipulations, and mistreats her own subordinates, with the behaviours her WickedStepmother drilled into her, and fights with magical swords that always manifest as Rhodes' swords.]]

[[folder:Professional Gaming]]
* In ''VideoGame/CounterStrike: Global Offensive'', perhaps the biggest example (although doom is a bit overstated) is "The Great Northern Betrayal" and the fallout that resulted from it. After bombing out of ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018 12th-14th at the hands of eventual winners [=Cloud9=], Astralis had planned to stay together as a team after their disappointing performance...and then Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye left the team for fellow Danish squad North in sudden and shocking fashion. This led to Astralis signing Emil "Magisk" Reif, and this in turn led to the Danes flat out destroying the opposition all throughout 2018, winning the next Major at FACEIT London, and winning the $1 million prize of Intel Grand Slam Season 1 (by winning four Dreamhack/ESL events). Overall, they had won ''10'' championships across the year. And to start off 2019, they won the IEM Katowice Major, cementing themselves as the best team of all-time. While Kjaerbye himself would find some decent success with North, even upsetting Astralis at Dreamhack Masters Stockholm 2018, and is most likely content staying with the team, Astralis probably would not have had this level of success with him had he stayed.
* ''VideoGame/Dota2:'' Again, doom being a bit overstated, in the hours following ESL One Birmingham, OG's Tal "Fly" Aizik and Gustav "[=s4=]" Magnusson departed the team for Evil Geniuses. Left in pieces, the organization had to forfeit their slot for the China Supermajor, the last Major before The International 2018. The two remaining players Johan "[=N0tail=]" Sundstein (who was best friends with Fly, so this sudden decision devastated him a lot), Jesse "[=JerAx=]" Vainikka and coach Sebastien "[=Ceb/7ckngMad=]" Debs went to look for players to reassemble the team, resulting in Ceb recruiting Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen as their midlaner, and Anathan "ana" Pham returning to the team following a year-long absence from professional Dota 2, this time as their carry. [=N0tail=] returned to his signature hard support role, while Ceb, after years of coaching, returned to active play as their offlaner. No one could've predicted the run they had at the tournament, running through the entire Upper Bracket (after a successful group stage performance) all the way to the Grand Finals culminating in an amazing best of 5 series against PSG.LGD, winning the damn tournament after only being assembled for just three months. [[DarkHorseVictory Many thought that their run was a fluke.]] '''They were wrong.''' Come the following year's International, despite a rough season beforehand, OG, with the same roster, absolutely destroyed the competition, losing only ''5'' games in total from the group stage to the Grand Finals, crushing Team Liquid 3-1, not only becoming the first-ever two-time TI winners, but also back-to-back TI winners, having successfully defended their title. OG have now cemented themselves as the greatest Dota 2 team of all time, and it all started with the leaving of two key players. That being said, everyone clearly saw that both teams ultimately benefited from it as a whole. EG have returned to form as one of the best teams in the world. OG have become immortalized in esports history.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/TommyDreamer and [[Wrestling/TomBrandi Johnny Gunn]] defeated Tony Stetson and Johnny Hot Body for the Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-t.html ECW Tag Team Titles]] at ''Wrestling/{{ECW}} November To Remember 93'', November 13th, 1993. Johnny Gunn didn't make it to the December 4th event. Wrestling/ShaneDouglas substituted and turned on Dreamer, costing them the belts to Wrestling/KevinSullivan and [[Wrestling/{{Tazz}} The Tazmaniac]], leading to Shane renaming himself "The Franchise" and becoming the colossal {{Jerkass}} the world would come to know and hate.
* Two related to the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob:
** Wrestling/{{Madusa}} leaving the WWF with the Women's championship and dumping the belt on an episode of ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNITRO''. This made Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so paranoid that, in order to prevent [[HistoryRepeats history repeating itself]] with Wrestling/BretHart leaving with the WWE Championship, he engineered the Screwjob.
** In an interview, Wrestling/JimCornette said he was the first one in a booking meeting to suggest (jokingly) a double cross on Hart in Montreal. However in his version, Bret would have faced Wrestling/KenShamrock instead.
* In a similar situation, Wrestling/TonySchiavone has taken credit for jokingly suggesting that Wrestling/{{WCW}} put their World Heavyweight championship on Creator/DavidArquette.
* The signing of Wrestling/KurtAngle can be pointed to as an indirect source to all of [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]'s current issues thanks to two things it caused. The most direct one was bringing in his then-wife Karen into the promotion. After she filed for divorce and they separated, she started dating Wrestling/JeffJarrett -- Dixie Carter found out, freaked, stripped Jarrett of all booking power, and sent him home. Since most wrestlers saw Jarrett as the real boss, this allowed her to insert herself into a position of power backstage (she was only supposed to write the checks). The other one is the precedent it set; despite being by far and away the best signing TNA has ever made (with Wrestling/{{Christian}} and Wrestling/{{Sting}} being relative close seconds), Kurt's arrival allowed a floodgate of older wrestlers that entered the promotion and soaked up the spotlight from the younger talent people wanted to see. Eventually, this led to bringing in Wrestling/HulkHogan and Wrestling/EricBischoff, who took that same problem along with all the other ones that turned TNA from a once worthy competitor to Wrestling/{{WWE}} into Wrestling/{{WCW}}-lite, and dialed them UpToEleven, ushering in the DorkAge that the company is ''still'' trying to recover from to this day.
* Wrestling/ChrisHero was kicked out of Wrestling/{{Chikara}} in 2007 and all relating to him [[UnPerson was scrubbed clean from view]], but his actions continued to have an effect on the promotion regardless. It was his acquisition of the Eye Of Tyr from Dr. Cube of Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel that allowed for Wrestling/UltraMantisBlack's Order Of The Neo Solar Temple to gain power and Wrestling/DieBruderschaftDesKreuzes after them, and [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]] taking up the ways of a rudo after that, and [[Wrestling/{{Hallowicked}} the]] [[Wrestling/{{Frightmare}} rest]] of Incoherence going bad after that. The effects of manipulations also led to the rise of [[Wrestling/ShaneStorm STIGMA]] in his absence.
* {{Wrestling/Paige}} accidentally bumped into Wrestling/SummerRae after winning a match. This act of disrespect caused the ring announcer to snap and attack Paige, thereby establishing herself as the new top heel Diva on NXT.
** Her actions would cause another FaceHeelTurn when she, as General Manager of Smackdown Live, booked Wrestling/{{Carmella}} in a match against Wrestling/CharlotteFlair in which if the latter won she would be added to the former's championship match against her friend Wrestling/BeckyLynch in retaliation to [[KickTheDog Carmella taunting her about never being able to win the Smackdown Women's Championship due to her]] CareerEndingInjury. This would lead to Charlotte winning the Women's Championship and Becky, feeling that Charlotte stole her spotlight, [[FaceHeelTurn turning heel by attacking Charlotte]] thus destroying their friendship.
* Summer Rae later became one herself. She corrupted Sasha Banks in order to get an ally for herself and form the Beautiful Fierce Females. Little did she know that Sasha would become an even more effective villain than her - and eventually the NXT Women's Champion. Everything Sasha did as The Boss stems from that one ReasonYouSuckSpeech. And for good measure, Wrestling/RicFlair's daughter Wrestling/{{Charlotte}}, who they brought into the group early on as a stab against Wrestling/{{Bayley}}, has also advanced much further than Summer since then. As of summer 2016, Summer Rae essentially helped create the history behind the main feud for the WWE Women's Championship, and she herself has nothing to show for it.
* Wrestling/{{ECW}}'s November 23, 1996 event was supposed to have featured The Gangstas (Wrestling/NewJack and Mustafa) vs. [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys D-Von Dudley]] and Axl Rotten, but Axl no-showed. A 17-year-old kid named Eric Kulas offered his services, lying about his age and about having been "trained" by Killer Kowalski. Cue the Wrestling/MassTransitIncident. Axl likely had no clue what harm would come from his no-showing that night.
* Wrestling/UltimateWarrior, Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, and Wrestling/CMPunk are among the biggest stars in WWE, but can be pointed to as an indirect source of WWE's inability (if not outright refusal) to create new stars. All three have at one point or another [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere walked out on the company]], [[RealLifeWritesThePlot which strongly affected WWE Programing]], regardless if they were justified or not. This has soured Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so much that now he decides who is allowed to be over, even if he has to sabotage someone else's push just to assure that no one is bigger than the company. As far as he's concerned, the only huge draw Vince wants in WWE is the WWE brand itself.

[[folder:Sports]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Merkle Fred Merkle]] was a baseball player for the Giants back in the early twentieth century. In the bottom of the ninth inning in a game against the Cubs, there were two outs and the score was tied, and Merkle was on first base (someone else was on third). Another player scored, scoring a game-winning run, but in the excitement Merkle never actually stepped on second base. Thus, a player for the Cubs stepped on second base and called Merkle out, thus nullifying the run. As this game was played before electric lighting, the game was declared a tie. Thus, the Giants and Cubs ended the season tied for first place, requiring a rematch to determine who would go on to win the pennant. The Cubs won. The sheer amount of hatred directed at Merkle's one mistake was astounding, especially considering that he was far from the only person who cost the Giants the pennant. It wasn't excitement that kept Merkle from stepping on second; the fans stormed the field, and he ran for the clubhouse for his own safety. The game was called a tie after the Cubs player somehow made the play in that mess because they couldn't clear the field. It should also be noted that, since this behavior by the fans was quite common back then, such a force out had never before been enforced under those conditions. All of this really makes Merkle one of the worst cases of MisBlamed in sports history.
* Steve Bartman. As the story goes, the Chicago Cubs were on their way to their first World Series since 1945 when hapless fan Bartman interfered with a foul ball, costing the team a precious out. What gets overlooked is that after the incident, Chicago still led 3-0 with one out in the 8th inning, and could have easily won the game if not for a bout of spectacular incompetence: a wild pitch, an error on an easy ground ball that could have ended the inning, two intentional walks that backfired to the tune of four runs allowed, and other hard hits. The tense 3-0 game became an 8-3 laugher. Oh, and that was only Game 6 of a seven-game series; the Cubs could have still made the World Series by winning Game 7, at home, with their best pitcher going. That didn't work out either.
* Similarly, Bill Buckner's epic error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. History notes that the Red Sox had the Mets down to their final out, and three times down to a final ''strike'' that would have brought Boston a long-awaited championship since 1918. Buckner's famous gaffe was made possible only by three consecutive singles, a wild pitch, and pitcher Bob Stanley failing to recognize that baserunner Ray Knight had strayed so far from second base he could have been picked off easily. And, like the above example, this loss only tied the series at 3-3; the stunned team could have regrouped and won the next day, but did not. Furthermore, the game was tied (due to the wild pitch mentioned above) when Buckner made the game-ending error. Had he made the play, the game would have continued another inning, making this another case of MisBlamed.
* In the bottom of the ninth inning of game six of the 1985 World Series, umpire Don Denkinger called Kansas City Royals baserunner Jorge Orta safe on a close play at first base. ABC's replay showed that St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Todd Worrell managed to get to first base and took the toss from first baseman Jack Clark at the base before Orta reached it. Cardinals fans will blame this call for costing them the championship and Denkinger was hounded by them for years. However, Orta was the first batter of the inning. The Royals eventually loaded the bases and it was the fourth batter of the inning, pinch-hitter Dane Iorg, who got the hit that scored two runs to give Kansas City a 2-1 victory. The Cardinals could have still won the series the next night in game seven, but were still unhinged by the events of the previous night and the Royals won 11-0, claiming their first[[note]]and, until 2015, only[[/note]] World Series title. It didn't help that the Cardinals had won the first two games of the series in Kansas City and held a 3-1 lead in the series after five games, making the Royals the first team ever to come back from a 3-1 series deficit after losing the first two games at home. Oh, and Orta wasn't even on base when the winning run was scored...he was thrown out at third on a poorly-executed bunt play.[[note]]This ''also'' ignores the fact that the Cardinals had already benefited from a similar bad call: Royals player Frank White was called out in a close play at second but the replay showed that he, unlike Orta, had actually beaten the tag; the next hitter, Pat Sheridan, drove a single to right field that likely would have allowed White to score from second, more than making up for Orta's scoreless two-base advance.[[/note]]
* For all the flack Lebron James got for the Miami Heat losing the 2011 NBA Championship. it may have been Dwayne Wade that started the collapse. Miami looked to have a 2-0 lead over Dallas when Wade hit a three-pointer to put them up by 15 in the fourth - and he chose to taunt the Mavericks by posing in front of their bench. Dallas mounted a furious rally to win that game, posted another comeback in Game Four and ultimately took the trophy right from under the anointed Heat's collective noses.
* From the American point of view, an unidentified member of the Illinois Highway Patrol [[http://espn.go.com/golf/rydercup12/story/_/id/8444955/2012-ryder-cup-rory-mcilroy-needs-ride-police-make-tee-time who escorted the Northern Irish World Champion golfer Rory McIlroy]] to the final day of the Ryder Cup; [=McIlroy=] was instrumental in Europe's comeback from 6-10 to retain the cup 14.5-13.5.
* During a game between the New York Jets and New England Patriots in 2001, Jets linebacker Mo Lewis ''crushed'' scrambling QB Drew Bledsoe (So hard was the hit that Bledsoe nearly died from internal injuries). And with Bledsoe done for the day, in came a 6th round picked named Creator/TomBrady. The man widely considered these days as one of the best to ever toss a pigskin and nightmare for all non-Patriots fans (and more recently, non-Buccaneers fans). All thanks to Mo Lewis.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons: [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition Fifth Edition]]'' adventure ''TabletopGame/OutOfTheAbyss'', the drow Gromph Baenre serves as this for the party. Granted, Vizeran [=DeVir=] mentions that Gromph trying to summon [[TheDreaded a demon lord of the Nine Hells]] was an incredibly stupid move, all on its own. But it's thanks to interference from the ChaoticEvil Lolth that Gromph summoned all of the demon lords instead, causing them to wreak havoc across the Underdark, including to the City of Spiders that Gromph's sister rules. It also turns the party's quest from escaping the Underdark into stopping the demon lords by any means necessary. And even then, countless people end up dead thanks to Gromph's decision.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Lamar, a barbarian sentry from ''[[Literature/OdysseyCycle Judgment]]'' who sees Jeska knocking Kamahl's friend Balthor unconscious, and, believing she's killed him, rushes to tell Kamahl, who [[spoiler:[[PoorCommunicationKills attacks Jeska in a fit of rage, mortally wounding her]]]]. This leads to the Cabal finding Jeska and [[ReforgedIntoAMinion saving her life by transforming her into Phage the Untouchable]], kicking off the apocalyptic events of the entire ''Literature/OnslaughtCycle''. Which, as it turns out, led to the fabric of existence being marred so much that temporal rifts began opening across all of the Multiverse (at various points in spacetime, no less); these rifts were revealed to be the causes of some key events that led to the Kamigawa and Mirrodin blocks, and finally culminated in permanently warping the very nature of all Planeswalkers Sparks both currently held and from that point forward. Because one private didn't check the body, the Multiverse was forever changed.
* In the backstory to ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'', the [[GoldenAge ancient Dwarf Empire]] was destroyed by a series of earthquakes that tore through the World's Edge Mountains. The dwarfs refer to it as the Time of Woe, as the dwarfholds were isolated and uncounted dwarfs died in cave-ins, fissures opening beneath their feet or entire sections of holds falling apart. The cause? On the other side of the Great Sea, a [[TheArchmage Slann Mage-Priest]] called Quex had realized the planet's continents had become ''slightly'' misaligned compared to the design documents left behind by the {{Precursors}}, and decided the time was right to re-align them.
** An inversion would be the Greenskin incursion at Grimspike Pass. The Dwarf High King Kurgan Ironbeard marched his throngs out to meet the orcs. The newly appointed High Chief of Men, Sigmar Unberogen, gathered his warriors and moved to reinforce Kurgan's position, rather pragmatically counting on that their combined forces would have a better chance or repelling the orcs. Kurgan, in a similar bout of pragmatism, equipped Sigmar's warriors with steel weapons to replace the bronze or iron ones they brought, and gave Sigmar the rune-hammer Ghal-Maraz. From this simple act of {{Realpolitik}} grew an alliance which has lasted for over two millennia, and brought prosperity to both Men and Dwarfs.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* As Captain Henry Wirz testifies during the climax of ''Theatre/TheAndersonvilleTrial'', General Sherman's march through and destruction of Atlanta only exacerbated the problems at Andersonville.
* ''Theatre/{{Brand}}'' has Gerd, a CloudCuckoolander who crosses paths with the main character time and again, prompting his choices for the worse. At the end of the play, she is the one who fires the shot to loosen the lavine that buries the entire community completely (and everybody in it). Justified because she is obsessed by the thought of getting a shot at "the bad priest on the black peak". Whatever that is.
* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Hilariously subverted by De Guiche: he is a villain who unwittingly derails his own plans. In Act I Scene IV, he utters a simple DareToBeBadass to De Valvert, a small but crucial gesture that [[DisasterDominoes sets events in motion that result in]] the derailment of his own plan to [[ArrangedMarriage marry]] Roxane to [[TheBeard De Valvert]] so de Guiche could bully her to be his [[TheMistress mistress]].
* In Creator/OscarWilde's ''Theatre/AnIdealHusband'', the scatty Lady Markby brings a friend to a party, appearing in two scenes in the first act, and never appears onstage again. Said friend turns out to know their host's dirty secret, thus causing the events of the entire play.
* ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'': After all the fairytale events, one of the consequences is that the widow of the giant Jack killed comes down seeking revenge against Jack. However, it's during the song "Your Fault" that the other characters learn that they were all indirectly responsible -- the Baker was the one who gave Jack the magic beans in exchange for Milky-White, his wife attempted to give Cinderella an extra bean in exchange for her golden slipper, which she promptly threw away (it was this second beanstalk that the giant's widow climbed down), Red Riding Hood dared Jack to get the harp, which was the point where the giant became aware of Jack stealing their stuff, and the Witch was the one who raised the beans in the first place. All the other characters ultimately agree to [[NeverMyFault blame the Witch for the whole thing]] -- [[FantasticRacism just because she's a witch and therefore an easy target]] -- despite her being by far the least involved.
* ''Theatre/MissSaigon'': Ellen. Had she not reacted so badly to the idea of taking Tam, Kim might not have felt it necessary to kill herself in order to ensure that they would.
* JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples: Romeo's servant Balthasar in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', when he brings his message to Romeo telling him of Juliet's death. Sadly, the friar's letter telling him that the death was faked does not get through -- so there are ''two'' Swiss Messengers, the one who delivers the wrong news, and the one who doesn't realize how important the ''real'' news is, and fails to deliver it. Actually seems to have achieved some degree of PopCulturalOsmosis, which runs counter to the norm for an author so prone to CommonKnowledge.
* Theatre/{{Sweeney Todd|TheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet}} would never have gone on his murder spree as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street had Anthony not barged into his shop, with Judge Turpin ''right there in the damned room'', in order to inform Sweeney of his plans to elope with Johanna, bombing both that plan and Sweeney's plan to kill Turpin straight to hell and making everything worse.

[[folder:Toys]]
* Literally everything that happened in ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'' can be traced back to two characters' actions: Annona, who amplified the Great Beings' pre-existing compulsion to create, which eventually led to the Great Spirit Robot; and the Energized Protodermis Entity, who let the Core War happen and caused Spherus Magna to shatter. While it's debatable exactly how much of this was "unwitting", it's doubtful either of them foresaw just how much of an impact their actions would have.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 He-Man]] ended up as this during his fight against [[WesternAnimation/ThunderCats Lion-O]]. He just wanted to fend off Lion-O, but in doing so, [[spoiler:he crushed the Eye of Thundera, which kept the Thunderian race alive.]]
* ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats'': In episode 7, Paul [[spoiler:severs all ties with the series' AxCrazy VillainProtagonist Carl]], as any sane person would. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:Paul's friendship was the only thing keeping Carl a little bit sane (a very, ''very'' little bit), and without Paul around, Carl ends up destroying all life on Earth]].
* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':
** It's revealed in season 10 that [[spoiler: Carolina]] is the unintentional cause for multiple problems the cast faces in the Recollection trilogy, thanks to several ill-considered decisions regarding AI. [[spoiler: Sigma was her original AI partner, but she felt guilty for Maine being rendered mute and gave Sigma to him to compensate. She then proceeded to demand the next ''two'' AI Fragments, Eta and Iota, to compensate (and because she was jealous of Tex for getting Omega, the strongest one). Eta and Iota were to be Wash and South Dakota's AI; when they were given to Carolina, Wash ended up getting Epsilon instead, leading to his mental breakdown, and South's envy of Wash and her brother (who had Theta) boiled over and ended with her leaving both of them for dead later (which would in turn lead to Wash killing her). Meanwhile, Sigma quickly gained complete control over Maine and used him to further his goals of metastability as the Meta.]]
*** Carolina's rivalry with Tex also caused the events of Season 15-[[spoiler: When she and Tex fought each other in a simulation, one of the Simulation Troopers with them was killed. His death (along with Carolina and Tex's uncaring reaction) inspired his best friend to rally both the Blue and Red teams to fight against both Project Freelancer ''and'' the [=UNSC=] for treating them so disposably.]]
** There's [[spoiler:the Director's obsession with his dead love, Allison. When the Alpha AI, copied from the Director's mind, was created, the Beta AI (based on the Director's memories of Allison) naturally fragmented from it. This inspired the Director to torture the Alpha into making more fragments, the ones mentioned above, to figure out a way to "get her right".]]
** There is also [[spoiler:the Sleeveless Insurrectionist Soldier, who shot Agent Maine in the throat several times, rendering him mute. This gave Carolina an excuse to give her A.I. Sigma away so that Maine could have an alternate way to speak. This contributed into forever turning him into the Meta.]]
** Season 14 ultimately reveals that [[spoiler: The entire series happened because Agent Florida tripped over a wire and broke it. Originally, had something happened to him, other Freelancers were to show up and take his place, starting with Agent California. However, by damaging the wire, the list of Freelancers were replaced by those of normal Simulation Troopers, beginning with Caboose and Donut, who would trigger the plot. Thus, because of a damaged wire, Agent Florida would kick off a series of events that would lead to the destruction of the Freelancer Project.]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Flashbacks depict [[TheHeavy Cinder]] living in an [[CinderellaPlot abusive environment]] where she works as a slave for the hotelier who is her [[WickedStepmother legal guardian]]. When she steals a customer's sword to kill her abusive family, he decides to give her a legal escape by training her to become a [[HunterOfMonsters Huntress]]. [[spoiler:When [[MoralityChain Rhodes]] gifts Cinder with a twin of the weapon she once stole, her [[BigSisterBully step-sisters]] finding it triggers a confrontation that snaps Cinder. Thanks to years of training and torture, she kills both her family and Rhodes, beginning her journey of killing others to steal power for herself; this leads her right into [[BigBad Salem]]'s arms, earning her a major role in the SecretWar with [[BigGood Professor Ozpin]] for the fate of humanity. To this day, she handles Salem's abusive manipulations, and mistreats her own subordinates, with the behaviours her WickedStepmother drilled into her, and fights with magical swords that always manifest as Rhodes' swords.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Series/CobraKai'' would have an easier time listing aversions. The second season, which ended up with the campus equivalent of a MobWar (and one student on each side hospitalized), took this one UpToEleven.
* Trouble in ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'', being a mutant lizard who was adopted and trained by a member of the team trying to eradicate his kind, was the first to spark the tension between realist and idealist members of the team. Technically speaking he is responsible both for the campaigns by both Kotua ''and'' Cam O'Cozy, both of whom tried to commit genocide against idealist agents.
* ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'':
** [[spoiler:Red Guy]] is heavily implied to be this in the fifth episode. At the beginning of the episode, Duck Guy and Yellow Guy note that something's "missing", unaware that it's [[spoiler:their friend Red Guy.]] Near the beginning of the episode, a phone rings, and when Duck Guy answers, he's suddenly in an operating room, watching himself on the television, with a mysterious voice saying "you have to know right from wrong". This seems to lead him to realize that the lesson would go wrong somehow and try to escape, [[spoiler:for which he is EatenAlive.]] The end credits imply that [[spoiler:the call was made by Red Guy, who somehow escaped from the lessons and was trying to help his friends escape, and hearing Red Guy's voice was what made Duck Guy realize what was going on. If it weren't for Red Guy, Duck Guy would probably still be alive, and Yellow Guy wouldn't be completely alone.]]
** The sixth video takes this further by implying that [[spoiler:Red Guy is [[GainaxEnding somehow]] inadvertently causing the GroundhogDayLoop the puppets are trapped in.]]
* The ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' has Quackity, who -- after being told they'd be the only party running -- decided to run against Wilbur and Tommy in the L'Manburg Presidential Election. This opened the gates for other people to form political parties to run against Wilbur and Tommy... including [[ArcVillain Jschlatt]], who wound up pooling his votes with Quackity's in order to win. Immediately after [[TyrantTakesTheHelm becoming President]], Schlatt declares himself Emperor, exiles Wilbur and Tommy, tears down major landmarks, and starts crushing any dissenting voices ''hard''.
* ''Series/{{Noob}}'':
** In late Season 4, Kary commits the InnocentlyInsensitive act of [[spoiler:choosing to check out an in-game event over finishing her (in-game) wedding to Arthéon, who was taking it much more serously than she was.]] Arthéon was so furious that he went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Even after he calmed down, he still had a much more cynical view of everyone and everything he knew than before. This became a really bad thing [[spoiler:because Arthéon eventually got a job that enabled him to impact the game's plot and the story has reached a point where he will be responsible for the game world's destruction unless his former guildmates stop him]].
** In late Season 5, Roxana keeps Saphir from doing a quest that impacts the game story and may have the side a effect of making Saphir's guild outrank Roxana's once it's done. The reason the quest could have been singlehandedly enough to significantly uprank Saphir's guild? It would bring a big blow to the BigBad if accomplished, help make him stronger if failed.
* In ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1867 SCP-1867 ("A Gentleman")]] is Lord Blackwood, an adventurous seaslug who appears in many other works telling about his adventurous times. If the accounts are correct, Lord Blackwood may have just been the one that [[spoiler: inspired SCP-319's maker to try and travel to another universe, and gave him the means to attempt it]]. A short read of that particular file lets us know that attempt essentially ''doomed this universe''.
* ''Literature/TheTimTebowCFLChronicles:'' Tim Tebow unintentionally destroys Canadian football. Unknown to him, the rest of the league can't start the 2014 playoffs until they get the results from his game against the REDBLACKS. But with Tebow leading the Argos' offense, and with [[{{Calvinball}} the utterly bizarre rules of "bound-for-street" play]], the game lasts ''over a decade''--while every other team can't do anything but wait.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', the Undersider's local [[TheSmartGuy Smart Girl]], Tattletale, normally isn't this, but a character flaw of hers is to start throwing everything her SherlockScan superpower picks up everywhere when she panics. This doesn't really hurt anyone...with the rather glaring exception of [[spoiler:cluing [[TheMedic Panacea]] into her family history...which sets off the [[DysfunctionJunction time bomb]] of issues that is her adopted family, and ends with Panacea's incarceration and her sister becoming a [[AndIMustScream miserable pile of immobile flesh]].]]
[[/folder]]

* ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats'': In episode 7, Paul [[spoiler:severs all ties with the series' AxCrazy VillainProtagonist Carl]], as any sane person would and should. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:Paul's friendship was the only thing keeping Carl a little bit sane (a very, ''very'' little bit), and without Paul around, Carl ends up destroying all life on Earth.]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/AnecdoteOfError'': When [[SternTeacher Talshko]] tells Atshi to shape up and prove herself, she means that Atshi had better improve her studies lest she get expelled. But Atshi interprets it to mean, [[LeeroyJenkins “Run headlong into danger to try to save everybody yourself.”]] This leads directly to [[spoiler:Luntsha getting expelled]], and it’s a miracle that no one gets seriously injured.
* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids:'' Pretty much everything in the plot stems from Jim, in-character (loosely) as Qui-Gon Jinn, deciding to search a meeting room for traps. From there, events lead to Anakin Skywalker joining the Jedi, the destruction of the Jedi, the corruption of the Senate, the creation of the Empire, and Palpatine becoming Emperor (and that's the ''short'' list). Jim never catches on. The other players do.
-->'''Pete:''' ''(after the latest disaster)'' Actually, like most things, it's Qui-Gon's fault.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', Florence has suspicions that Maxwell Post might be this when she learns that he is the spiritual advisor to the [[AIIsACrapshoot sapient robot]] population. [[SubvertedTrope So far, his efforts have been among the least of her worries.]]
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
** Dr. Beetle was the one who inspired Lucrezia's experiments with mind-transferral, meaning a good deal of issues in the story and the longest lasting plot thread tied to the BigBad's danger to the main cast can be traced back to him.
** Still later, it's Beetle's ill-advised plot against Klaus Wulfenbach that ultimately attracts the Baron's attention to Agatha, thus kicking off the plot.
* One ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' storyline featured a rampaging boar which was enchanted to grow to an enormous size. Said enchantment is heavily implied to have come from [[spoiler:Rhoda]], who was unwittingly given a [[PowerTattoo magic mark]] and unknowingly used it on the boar while in a state of panic.
* [[spoiler:Virtually everyone]] in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. Turns out [[spoiler:pretty much the entire universe (or at least, the correct timeline) and everyone's actions in it were a specially orchestrated sequence of events in time designed to bring [[BigBad Lord English]] into existence, and vice versa: English's existence is so intrinsic to the proper workings of the comic that any timeline deviating from the main one doesn't fulfill the requirements to result in his birth and consequently ''becomes a [[BadFuture doomed timeline]]'', so it can't really be considered their fault.]] Naturally, in keeping with the messed-up time shenanigans ingrained into the comic, [[spoiler:English]] set this up himself beforehand/afterward. The ''single'' good character who doesn't manage this is Nepeta[[note]]largely because she's never shown actually ''doing'' much of anything; the one time she tries to do something significant she's hopelessly outclassed and dies pointlessly and almost immediately[[/note]].
** Tavros deserves special mention. At one point he attempts to save a young Jade from accidentally shooting herself by taking psychic control of her dog, Becquerel, and deflecting the shot at her grandfather (whom he believed was a hostile intruder), killing him. He then points out that Becquerel would have saved her even if he hadn't done anything (in a way that would not have killed Grandpa Harley) and that he only interfered so he could feel a little better about himself. Even when she points out that killing her grandfather was ''not'' appreciated, he still thinks he made the right choice.
* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', [[Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault Nick and Ki's]] [[{{Crossover}} arrival in Domain]] by way of interdimensional travel disrupts the balance between the animal- and human-dominated worlds to the point at which the other two humans living on the animal side [[spoiler:Lindesfarne and Danielle]] are forced to leave lest the world suffer instinct loss. [[spoiler:Luckily, Catherine and Nigel do it instead]].
* In ''Webcomic/KidRadd'', two Moderators are given a large sum of money in order to hire an assassin to kill Radd, as Captain QB can't be directly implicated in illegal activities and needs to use a proxy. They reason that it can't be hard to kill someone in jail (as Radd is being imprisoned for illegally entering other games), and hire Kobayashi the discount ninja so that they can pocket the rest of the money. Radd survives the assassination attempt and Kobayashi becomes a recurring character who later meets up with Gnarl and, while training together, stumbles upon [[spoiler:Chimera Point, the keystone to Crystal's plans, which eventually results in ''her'' finding it too]].
* Several characters in ''Webcomic/{{minus}}'' take actions that, unbeknownst to them, lead to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. First, a mysterious man pretty much "breaks" [[RealityWarper minus]] by stuffing her into a briefcase. She is freed, but becomes a CloudCuckooLander. In an attempt to cure her, the green-haired girl throws a rock at minus's head, causing her [[spoiler:[[LiterallyShatteredLives to shatter]]]]. Because she is now [[spoiler:a ghost]], minus starts to spend more time with her ghost friends than her live ones. Which leads to the biggest example of this trope in the comic: the red-haired ghost asks minus to bring her back to life, because she has some UnfinishedBusiness with certain humans that the readers don't get to see. minus agrees. Unfortunately, once the other ghosts find out, they demand that minus revive them too. She does, [[spoiler:only for the sheer influx of bodies on Earth to suffocate every living thing on the planet, including those who were just revived]]. [[SpaceWhaleAesop And that is why you should never ask anything of an omnipotent being, ever.]]
* In ''Webcomic/NobodyScores'' this is frequently the role of [[Main/{{CloudCuckoolander}} Jane Doe]]. [[http://nobodyscores.loosenutstudio.com/index.php?id=488 This]] for example.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** [[KnightTemplar Miko Miyazaki]], having already [[DePower lost her Paladin abilities]] through the [[TheKingslayer unwarranted execution of of Lord Shojo]], ends up destroying the [[MacGuffin Sapphire Gate]], having once again misinterpreted what the gods wanted of her. Had she not been so hasty in doing this, the ghost of [[PrecursorHeroes Soon Kim]] could have permanently ended the threat of [[BigBad Xykon]] and [[DragonWithAnAgenda Redcloak]], who, themselves, were aiming for the gate, anyway.
** Right-Eye had the idea to recruit Xykon. If not for that one moment, Xykon never would have learned about the Snarl, probably never would have had the brains to become a lich on his own and would have continued his life of petty evil until he died and went to the Lower Planes without ever becoming the apocalyptic threat he is today.
** When Vaarsuvius went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and [[spoiler:cast Familicide, killing every creature related to the Ancient Black Dragon]], they didn't have any intentions beyond protecting their own family (and maybe enjoying the wildly DisproportionateRetribution way too much). Unfortunately for them, and also the world, [[spoiler:the Draketooth family guarding one of the Gates has a MeaningfulName, and Familicide wiped out every last one of them, leaving the Gate completely unprotected.]]
** The "civilized monster" races were Fenris's contribution to creating the world. He intended for the fast-breeding and resourceful goblinoids to outcompete the humanoids, but lost interest and turned to other projects. When the Dark One ascended to godhood, he assumed the goblins had been designed this way to provide [[CannonFodder easy targets for humanoid adventurers]], leading him and his priests to seek [[EldritchAbomination the Snarl]] to overthrow the gods. Because Fenris was careless.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': The Toughs accept a contract to deliver some food to what is referred to, in-story, as an 'UNS charity project'... Credomar. Due to the ship's AI interfering with a fuel delivery (which, in its defence, could have looked like an attack on the station if you squint right, particularly since the authorities take down the ''entire teraport denial field'' in order to teraport in the fuel), unrest in the station boils up quickly and leads to the station having several new holes in the side. [[CaptainObvious It's a space station floating in the vacuum of space]]. Of course the fact that one of their own 'build-a-bot' projects takes the opportunity to take charge, save everyone it could, become King, and inadvertently throwing a wrench in the UNS's plans to take over through other means (mainly by influencing the rebellion had it happened ''when expected'', along with using the Toughs to "prop up a pro-annexation group" without actually telling them this) was the icing on the cake.
* ''WebComic/SleeplessDomain'': Sally's temper tantrum about Tessa being the leader and bossing everyone around just because she had the strongest powers of Team Alchemical results in [[spoiler:the deaths of herself, Sylvia, and Gwen, with Tessa depowering herself to save Undine.]]
** Later on, Vedika has a conversation with Cassidy and says that Undine is probably dealing with issues that she can’t really talk about. Unfortunately, with Cassidy already jealous of how much time Undine has been spending with H.P., she takes this to mean that Undine is somehow [[spoiler:complicit in the deaths of Team Alchemical]]. This leads to Cassidy harshly interrogating Undine, then storming off when the rest of the club [[WhatTheHellHero chews her out]], and ultimately [[spoiler:Cassidy herself getting murdered by Goops]]. Vedika is brought to tears when she tells everyone about this.
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Reynir's older brother Bjarni to his LittleStowaway situation. While growing up, Reynir was told by his parents that only people who are TheImmune can travel internationally, while those who are not, such as himself, aren't allowed to do so. This, combined with having TheImmune DesignerBabies as siblings, gave him a quite bad case of SmallTownBoredom. Reynir eventually told Bjarni about it, and it goaded Bjarni into telling him that the international travel ban on non-immunes had actually been lifted a long time ago, and that their parents just didn't want an EmptyNest. Bjarni also mentioned that while military ships don't take non-immunes onboard, some merchant ships do. The merchant ship Reynir ended up on turned out to not have a license to let people disembark at its destination and its captain got blackmailed into making a detour to deliver food to the crew exploring an area with a high risk of ThePlague. All Reynir noticed about the latter situation was that the ship stopped moving and that crates big enough to fit a person were being taken out of the supply room.
[[/folder]]

** The "civilized monster" races were Fenris's contribution to creating the world. He intended for the fast-breeding and resourceful goblinoids to outcompete the humanoids, but lost interest and turned to other projects. When the Dark One ascended to godhood, he assumed the goblins had been designed this way to provide [[CannonFodder easy targets for humanoid adventurers]], leading him to seek [[EldritchAbomination the Snarl]] to overthrow the gods. Because Fenris was careless. [[spoiler: Fenris had done this for millions of other creation cycles, had always abandoned the goblin-equivalent races, and never had consequences for it, because [[GuiltByInaction the other gods just exploited his creations as easy targets for humanoid adventurers]]. [[VillainHasAPoint The Dark One is not wholly wrong in his vendetta]].]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** The games have one (although it's more attributed to the series being a LongRunner more than anything): [[spoiler:Tsukasa Oyashiki[=/=]Katherine Hall]] is indirectly responsible for the DL-6 incident, and therefore the events of the series as a whole, thanks to [[spoiler:inadvertently hiding the IS-7 victim's body. This was due to the fact that she stole and hid some sherbet sculptures made by the victim (a famous sculptor whose works her adoptive father enjoyed) in order to prevent his final works from being destroyed, not realizing that the killer hid the body among them until well after the fact. Because of that, she's responsible for the forgery of evidence and Manfred von Karma's single black spot on his beloved perfect record, which caused him to murder Gregory Edgeworth and adopt Miles out of revenge]]. Even worse, the DL-6 Incident led to [[spoiler:the Feys losing their reputation, causing Morgan's husband to leave her and Dahlia to grow up to become a serial killer.]] Poor [[spoiler:Katherine]]'s got a ''lot'' of blood on [[spoiler:her]] hands and probably doesn't even realize it.
** Jake Marshall is one for Case 1-5. He approaches Bruce Goodman, asking him to re-open SL-9, but Goodman refuses. Marshall then steals Goodman's ID to retrieve the evidence himself, prompting Goodman to have to enter the evidence room with [[spoiler:Police Chief Damon Gant]] in order to complete the transferal. Not realizing he was with Neil Marshall's true killer, Goodman changes his mind and suggests reopening the case, [[spoiler:and is killed on the spot before being transported to the underground parking lot]]. Marshall thus, either by stealing Goodman's ID or planting a seed of doubt in Goodman, indirectly caused Goodman's death.
** In ''Justice for All'', when Adrian Andrews discovered the dead body of Juan Corrida, she swiped a card from the crime scene and tampered a few more things. The card in question is a literal CallingCard of assassin Shelly de Killer (and obviously Corrida's killer), who ''intentionally'' leaves them behind so the police would know right away that he's the one who committed the crime. But the police never found the card, and Andrews planted enough evidence to implicate Matt Engarde, de Killer's "client", as the murderer. Because of this de Killer kidnaps Maya Fey in order to blackmail Phoenix Wright into defending Engarde in court.
** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'', Satoru Hosonaga plays this role in the first game's second case just by being there. At night, Kazuma Asougi gets a visit from [[spoiler:Nina Pavlova, who's looking for her cat]], and Asougi, mistaking the visitor or Hosonaga, addresses the person as "Inspector" and describes said inspector as a "friend." After Asougi [[spoiler:learns about the visitor's true identity]], he decides to get a second opinion from his friend- namely, Ryunosuke Naruhodo, who's hiding in the wardrobe- but the visitor assumes that he's talking about Hosonaga. Afraid of what would happen if a law enforcement officer [[spoiler:learned her true identity, Pavlova pushes him over, causing his apparent death.]]
* Ryousuke Katayama of ''VisualNovel/CorpseParty'' is a weird example, in that it's not exactly his fault. [[spoiler:In Tenjin Elementary School, he loses his leg in a trap and bleeds to death.]] His friend Ohkawa, however, [[spoiler:insists that he's still alive and needs to get to a hospital. In an attempt to "help" him realize the truth, Kizami pushes his body down the stairs]]. [[FreakOut This works about as well as you'd expect]]. Ohkawa [[spoiler:calls Kizami a murderer, which causes Kizami to have an "epiphany": It doesn't matter whether it's the school that kills you or him]].
* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'':
*** In the third chapter, Kiyotaka asks Makoto to take him to see [[ArtificialIntelligence Alter Ego]], because [[spoiler:Taka's best friend, Mondo, killed Alter Ego's creator, Chihiro]], something Taka felt very guilty about being unable to stop. Makoto obliges, despite the fact that Kyoko doesn't want anyone near Alter Ego unless absolutely necessary, and the conversation with Alter Ego results in Taka [[spoiler:taking on Mondo's spirit and becoming obsessed with "Alter Ego." He then feuds with Hifumi, who lusts after Alter Ego, and Celeste uses that feud to play the two against each other, resulting in Hifumi killing Taka, Celeste killing Hifumi and Celeste being executed once she's discovered as the culprit]]. The anime had Makoto avert this trope, since Taka was with everyone else when they first found Alter Ego, so Makoto played no role in Taka's conversation with Alter Ego or resulting breakdown.
*** If you get to the end of Chihiro's Free Time Events, Chihiro will ask Makoto for the name of a "strong guy." [[ButThouMust Mondo is the only correct answer]], [[spoiler:and he ends up murdering Chihiro when they meet up in Chapter 2]], so it's possible that Makoto played a role in that by recommending Mondo.
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': Fuyuhiko plays a video game set up by Monokuma, which reveal details about [[spoiler: his sister's murder and how Mahiru is connected to it.]] He attempts to confront her on the matter, but this leads to [[spoiler:Peko killing Mahiru under the misguided belief that it was according to her master's will.]]
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': When the cast try out a virtual reality program, Himiko has to remind herself that her right hand is the one she holds her chopsticks in when inserting two wires into the headset. [[spoiler:Gonta turns out to be left-handed, so after hearing her, he gets the wires mixed up and is unable to remember anything that happened in the simulation, including him murdering Miu.]]
* There are two of them in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'':
** Ooishi, whose InspectorJavert tendencies provoke the events of the Spirited Away and Atonement chapters.
** Oryou, whose actions and policies are directly responsible for Cotton Drifting and Eye Opening or indirectly responsible for many of the other chapters via the treatment of the Hojo siblings and in provoking Ooishi above.
* During Hanako's route in the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' [[spoiler:Misha]] decides to teasingly question her and Hisao about their relationship. As a result of this question [[spoiler:Hisao is forced into a situation where he had to tell Hanako about the surprise birthday party that he and Lily were planning for her. This just happens to cause [[ShrinkingViolet Hanako]] to have [[AngstComa a SEVERE panic attack]] in the middle of the following class, which is so serious that she has to be taken back to her room.]] In [[spoiler:Misha]]'s defense she truly didn't know that [[spoiler:[[BirthdayHater Hanako's birthday]] had such [[TraumaButton terrible memories associated with it]]]], is genuinely sorry for the consequences, and apologizes to Hanako as soon as she can talk to her.
* ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'':
** Sekai seduces Makoto because of her own unrequited feelings for him, [[MatchmakerCrush despite actually hooking him up with another girl, Kotonoha.]] This action itself, in the anime continuity, is what leads to Makoto developing a sex addiction, cheating on Sekai with Otome, and then Otome with every other girl in his class, Kotonoha becoming a {{Yandere}}, and well [[DownerEnding the nice boat.]]
** [[spoiler:Otome and Makoto]] might be even worse ones in some routes. It's depending on Makoto pulling one or another action that [[spoiler:Otome will or not tell Makoto's best friend Taisuke that girls like forceful dudes during sex -- which will lead him to rape his crush Kotonoha, under the very stupid belief that the poor girl's barely whispered "no, don't..." are actually a part of the "protest pretend" kink. [[note]]where the passive partner in hentai/ecchi/hard yaoi/etc. media fakes being embarrassment and unwillingness.[[/note]].]]
** Also, [[spoiler: Nanami, Hikari and Otome's GirlPosse]] can become the trope, when [[spoiler: they '''horribly''' bully Kotonoha to [[ShippingTorpedo keep her away from Makoto]] [[ShipperOnDeck and make sure Sekai gets him]].]] This can either lead to [[spoiler: Makoto ''completely cutting Sekai off his life'' before choosing Kotonoha since he thinks she's the one instigating the bullying that Koto has been a victim of [[note]](she's almost surely '''not''', but Makoto is simply too angry to consider that because school bullying is his BerserkButton)[[/note]] ]] or to [[spoiler: Kotonoha [[GoMadFromtheRevelation breaking down so badly]] for said harrassment that ''she murders Sekai in broad daylight''.]] In either way, their support to one girl over the other ''makes things MUCH worse for the one they wanted to "help"''.
* ''VisualNovel/ShinraiBrokenBeyondDespair'':
** To begin with, there's Rie, who holds the party at the resort, giving the killer a place to kill the victims without anyone calling for help.
** Rie's best friend Runa also counts. She insists that Rie invite Hiro and his girlfriend Momoko, despite the fact that Runa had been in love with the former, simply because she did not want to leave their friends out. She also proposed doing a matching cosplay with Runa, genuinely hoping to befriend her despite their difficulties in the past. [[spoiler:After carrying out her plan of killing Hiro, Momoko uses the rope wrapped around her kimono to hang herself]].
** Momoko's best friend Kamen is probably the one who had the greatest indirect contribution to the murders. [[spoiler:After Hiro tried hitting on her, she spoke with Momoko, and tried to convince her to dump Hiro, but Momoko jumped to the conclusion that Kamen wanted to steal Hiro away from her (not knowing that Kamen was in love with ''her''). Hiro, undeterred, kept sending messages to Kamen's phone, and Momoko apparently got a look at the phone while Kamen was using the bathroom. Momoko then concluded that Hiro was cheating on her with Kamen, and planned on killing him and herself, while framing Kamen for the deaths]].
* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'':
** [[spoiler:Battler Ushiromiya]] of all people, who drives [[spoiler:Sayo Yasuda]] to orchestrate the murders [[spoiler:by unwittingly breaking a promise to take them away from Rokkenjima]]. Battler didn't come back for it because of ''very'' serious family issues (depicted below), but unfortunately, [[spoiler:the already broken Sayo]] took this very, ''very'' badly.
** Furthermore, if that's the case, then [[spoiler: ''Rudolf and Kyrie'']] are also responsible. [[spoiler: Had they not [[ParentWithNewParamour married too soon after the death of Battler's beloved mother]] for the teenage Battler's taste, he would have not broken ties with his paternal family. Therefore, he would've showed up in Rokkenjima sooner and/or more frequently and, as the GuileHero he is, he would've found a way to help poor Sayo deal with their crappy situation, promise or not.]]
** There's also [[spoiler:Natsuhi]], who is largely responsible for [[spoiler:Sayo Yasuda]]'s issues in the first place. [[spoiler:Sayo was pretty much forcibly given to her by Kinzo as a baby to raise after she couldn't give birth to an heir, which [[GoodIsOldFashioned the very traditional Natsuhi]] saw as a reminder of her "failure" as a woman. One day, out of anger and resentment out of having to raise a child that wasn't her own, Natsuhi completely lost it and pushed a servant holding the baby off a cliff. The servant died but the baby survived, though with injuries that damaged their sexual organs, leading to Sayo having major gender/body issues later in life, which would ''not'' exactly help with their increasingly unstable mental state. An alternate continuity shows that, had Natsuhi not snapped the way she did, Sayo would grow into the [[TheAce far more stable]] [[AlternateSelf Lion Ushiromiya]].]]
* In ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', Zero mentions a story of how a ''snail'' caused 6 deaths by just being where it was. A woman [[spoiler: heavily hinted to be Eric's mother]] used a different way than usual because a snail was on the usual one. This caused her to meet a young SerialKiller, [[spoiler: who turns out to be Mira]], and get killed. An innocent man [[spoiler: later revealed to be Akane's father]] was caught and sentenced to death, which lead to his wife to commit suicide. The man was going to catch a taxi but he couldn't, and the taxi driver took a surgeon going to operate a kid. The taxi had an accident and both the driver and the surgeon died. Since the kid never received his surgery, he died as well. [[ArcWords Life is simply unfair]]
[[/folder]]

* [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom/{{Film}} Films]]

* ''WebComic/SleeplessDomain'': Sally's temper tantrum about Tessa being a leader and bossing everyone around just because she had the strongest powers of Team Alchemical results in [[spoiler: the deaths of herself, Sylvia, and Gwen, with Tessa depowering herself to save Undine.]]

!!Examples:

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom/{{Film}}

[[folder:Light Novel]]

** An inversion would be the Greenskin incursion at Grimspike Pass. The Dwarf High King Kurgan Ironbeard marched his throngs out to meet the orcs. The newly appointed High Chief of Men, Sigmar Unberogen, gathered his warriors and moved to reinforce Kurgan's position, rather pragmatically counting on that their combined forces would have a better chance or repelling the orcs. Kurgan, in a similar bout of pragmatism, equipped Sigmar's warriors with steel weapons to replace the bronze or iron ones they brought, and gave Sigmar the rune-hammer Ghal-Maraz. From this simple act of {{Realpolitik}} grew an alliance which has lasted for over two millenia, and brought prosperity to both Men and Dwarfs.

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Reynir's older brother Bjarni to his LittleStowaway situation. While growing up, Reynir was told by his parents that only people who are TheImmune can travel internationally, while those who are not, such as himself, aren't allowed to do so. This, combined with having TheImmune DesignerBabies as siblings, gave him a quite bad case of SmallTownBoredom. Reynir eventually told Bjarni about it, and it goaded Bjarni into telling him that the international travel ban on non-immunes had actually been lifted a long time ago, and that their parents just didn't want an EmptyNest. Bjarni also mentioned that while military ships don't take non-immunes onboard, some merchant ships do. The merchant ship Reynir ended up on turned out to not have a license to let people disembark at its destination and its captain got blackmailed into making a detour to deliver food to the crew exploring an area with a high risk of ThePlague. All Reynir noticed about the latter situation was that the ship stopped moving and that crates big enough to fit a person were being taken out of the supply room.